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Before the provincial government legalized mixed martial arts in 2010 Hayashi never budged when lobbied by big-money promoters, refusing to oversee a sport he considered unsafe.

But to his detractors, Hayashi was an autocrat who treated professional fighting like his personal fiefdom, running promoters through a frustrating maze of fees, regulations and last-minute rulings. Several promoters say Hayashi’s management style drove them out of the province or out of business.

The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport announced Hayashi’s retirement Thursday morning in a memo distributed to stakeholders. In the note, deputy minister Maureen Adamson stressed the positive.

“During his more than 30 years of dedicated service, the OAC has maintained an admirable health and safety record in the regulation of professional combative sports,” she wrote.

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Ministry policy advisor Ray Dempster was named the interim commissioner, and the memo promised a “fair and open” competition to fill the job. Whoever takes over will inherit a strained relationship with fight promoters.

Garnet Ace cancelled a Brantford fight card last June when Hayashi turned down several proposed matchups. Ace said Hayashi had known about the matches for months but only turned them down four days before fight night, leaving no time to schedule replacements. Ace also said several of the fighters had already been issued licences, making the rejection of their bouts more puzzling.

But he also says it’s typical of his and other promoters’ interactions with Hayashi, and a main reason Ontario went from 10 MMA cards in 2012 to one last year.

“Instead of working with us, he was always working against us,” said Ace, who lost $40,000 on the cancelled show. “Amateur shows are exploding but what are the pros having to do? They’re having to leave the province.”

Hayashi didn’t respond to interview requests, but he remained committed to fighter safety. When the UFC tried to book light-heavyweight Rashad Evans on its Toronto event, Hayashi rejected him, citing medical issues.

Industry experts say the Athletics Control Act, which acts as Ontario’s combat sports rulebook, and which Hayashi often cited to support his decisions, is dangerously outdated.

While Nevada, California and New York require promoters to insure fighters, promoters in Ontario aren’t obligated to take out similar insurance. Nor does the province require doctors at pro fights to remain ringside immediately after bouts.

When Mexican boxer Guillermo Herrera collapsed following a TKO loss during an April card in Toronto, his cornermen pleaded for medical help for more than five minutes before a doctor arrived.

The WBC maintained that dehydration from a morning weigh-in made Herrera especially vulnerable. Ontario requires boxers to weigh in on the morning of their bouts, even as other major jurisdictions stage weigh-ins 24 to 36 hours ahead of competition.

“The WBC has pleaded with the OAC to comply with the established world safety standards applicable to professional boxing,” said an April news release from the WBC. “There is ample medical evidence that the OAC’s weigh-in practice is dangerous.”

Hayashi, who joined the commission as a consultant in 1982, retires with other fighter safety questions unanswered.

The Athletics Control Act doesn’t contain a banned substance list, nor does it require drug tests for fighters. Legislation in Nevada, New York and California has clear doping control protocols. Competitors at UFC 206 in Toronto underwent drug testing because the promoter, not the province, required it. The testing was done by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

“It’s more important (in combat sports) than in any other sport,” said Jeff Novitzky, the UFC’s vice president of athlete health and performance. “This is not hitting a ball over a fence. This is two human beings in combat.”

In an email to the Star, a spokesperson explained the commission will oversee testing at a promoter’s request, but acknowledged that Ontario has no PED policy. Vancouver-based combat sports lawyer Erik Magraken said the absence of doping control threatens both fighter safety and commission credibility.

“Ontario’s drug testing policy is not normal; it is indeed quite bizarre,” Magraken wrote in an email to the Star. “Asking a promoter to be in charge of their own drug testing is perhaps the worst possible conflict of interest that can be imagined in combative sports.”

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